Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Is There a Modern IP Webcam That Lets the User Control the Output?
First time accepted submitter Tronster writes Owners of a local shop have a menu that changes daily and wanted an IP webcam to update an image on their web-site. After a frustrating 2 hours of a "Hikvision" refusing to behave, I threw in the towel and looked for a better camera to recommend. The biggest issue today is that the new webcams that come out don't support FTP, they all support sending images/video direct to a "private cloud" (e.g., Simplicam, Dropcam, etc...). Google has been no help; all the sites are either outdated in terms of ranking or the most recent ones recommend a Foscam. They previously tried one of these and it's image quality was too poor. While security systems and home automation has been discussed recently, I haven't found any recent discussions on webcams that give a user control of where the content is sent. Does anyone in the Slashdot community have recommendations, reputable sites that are up-to-date in rankings, and/or hacks to have control over some of these newer cameras?
Second, you could just take a stock webcam, attach it to an RPi, let it make a picture, let's say every 15 minutes and upload it to the desired FTP server. 100% scriptable.
Personally, I think this idea is ripe for abuse. Somebody is going to draw penises on the menu and it will be there on the site for all to see. Overthink your workflow instead of doing this.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
You're looking for a "webcam", stop looking for a "webcam" and you will find what you want.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
They should put the menu on a wooden table, take a picture with a film camera, scan the photograph on a flatbed scanner, then post that picture on their website.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Agreed! However, I've read this far and have not seen anyone actually answer his direct question.
So: D-Link DCS-930L:
* about $30
* wired or wireless network
* IP camera
* 640x480 (may be low-ish, but should be enough for a menu if properly framed in the FoV)
* FTP client support
If it was me, I'd just have them write the menu twice:
1. on chalkboard
2. on a form that updates the webpage (or just in a markdown doc and have that uploaded; or in something else and have them export to pdf and upload; etc)
They're already having someone write it by hand on a chalkboard whenever it changes. That takes WAY more time than writing by hand on paper, and both take longer than typing.
If they *really* need the fully automated chalkboard-to-web solution, then the Raspberry Pi is a perfect solution. You could also use any old or new mini pc (zotac zbox; asus eee box; chrombox; etc) + any camera or webcam you want. Install linux and "motion". Have motion upload new images when the image changes, or use a cron job to schedule it (ex. if they turn the lights off at night, you probably don't want motion to upload a black snapshot). You could also combine the two - enable motion during the day and disable it at night via cron but use it to decide when to upload.
Maybe this is "too much work". As others have pointed out, there's more than one way to skin this cat. Cheapest and most readily available and very simple would be to have them take the picture with their phone and upload it. This could be tweaked an any number of ways as needed. For example:
a) write a mini app to do this. This would hide the file renaming, ftp settings, etc, and it's just be a button to take a picture and a button to say "ok, upload that". Writing apps is like that is REALLY easy.
b) save the photos to dropbox or upload to twitter etc. Then, server side, script it to find the most recent when displaying the menu.
c) Just tell them how and write that on a piece of paper for them to follow: take picture; save it; go into ftp app; select it; rename it to "menu.jpg"; click upload